MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Dark Backward’ a Bizarre Comic Show-Biz Fable

Adam Rifkin’s determinedly weird and frequently funny “The Dark Backward” (at the Nuart) takes us into the grungy existence of a pair of nerdy garbage collectors, Marty Malt (Judd Nelson) and his pal Gus (Bill Paxton), eager to break into show business--Marty as a stand-up comic and Gus as an accordionist.

Pathologically shy and totally humorless, Marty wears his hair greased down, has ugly glasses and works in a polyester gray leisure suit with avocado trim. His facing an audience is an act of iron will, fueled by the thoroughly deluded notion that he possesses comic talent. Sample: “I took up a new hobby--reconstituting tomatoes from ketchup.” Gus is a cackling, unkempt, icky near-cretin with a passion for hefty women and whose professed faith in Marty’s abilities hides a nasty mean streak.

There’s no way these losers have what it takes to make it out of their film noir world of cheap clubs and diners and tacky apartments. Even though Jackie Chrome (Wayne Newton), the agent they approach for representation, has as a key client an individual who plays a human xylophone, not even he has the time of day for them--until a bump on Marty’s back develops into a third arm! It’s enough of an oddity, to put it mildly, to transform their lives.

Rifkin has spun a pitch-black fable of show business at its sleaziest and most ephemeral. Yet “The Dark Backward” is ultimately a tale of liberation with the notion that only when you are truly free can you be truly funny.

These may seem awfully sober thoughts for what looks to be a candidate for a midnight cult movie. However, for all its gross-out humor “The Dark Backward” (rated R for raunchiness) is a work of real craftsmanship that builds well and boasts superlative production design, incorporating thrift-store kitsch from the past couple of decades, fine moody camera work and a driving, cockamamie carousel music score. The film is about 10 to 15 minutes too long, sagging momentarily in the middle and thereby giving us too much time to ponder how much effort it can take these days to be outrageous.

Paxton tends to become manic to the point of tediousness, but James Caan and Rob Lowe contribute amusing cameos. The film’s biggest pluses are the portrayals by Nelson and Newton, which are surprisingly legitimate in circumstances that would seem to invite burlesque.

Nelson digs in, making Marty quite real, capable of surviving the absurd quirks of fate that befall him; Marty might be a cousin to Dustin Hoffman’s Ratso Rizzo in “Midnight Cowboy.” Likewise, Newton is not just being himself in a guest appearance but reveals Jackie to be an irrepressible, brash small-timer in gaudy clothes shrewd enough to know when his big chance comes along, no matter how grotesque. Having been in show business since childhood, Newton must have met more than one Jackie Chrome along the way.

‘The Dark Backward’

Judd Nelson: Marty Malt

Bill Paxton: Gus

Wayne Newton: Jackie Chrome

Lara Flynn Boyle: Rosarita

A Greycat Films release of William Talmadge/L.A. Dreams presentation. Writer-director Adam Rifkin. Producers Brad Wyman, Cassian Elwes. Executive producers Randolf Turrow, Talmadge. Cinematographer Joey Forsyte. Editor Peter Schink. Costumes Alexandria Forster. Music Marc David Decker. Production design Sherman Williams. Art director Wendy Guidery. Sound Mary Jo Devenney. Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (for brief scenes of bizarre, comic sensuality).